09.09.06

CROHNS AND COLITIS FOUNDATION WALK, CALIFORNIA CAPITOL STEPS

I was contacted by this organization, and it was an honor to provide my service. I had never set my gear up on the front steps of the State Capitol before. Surprisingly, there were power outlets out there. I used 4 of my Mackie SRM-450's on stands and even with all the vendor tents, and crowd, the sound was perfect. The event was a success, and a lot of fun.

05.29.06

EVERGREEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ANNUAL WALK-A-THON

It's not often a person get's to entertain an entire grade school. Evergreen Elementary is in Rohnert Park, CA. The faculty and the very strong Parent-Teacher group feels strongly about the importance of not cutting corners with kid's and education. I give them a great flat price to play loud music from the blacktop while the entire school does laps on the field for 2 hours to raise money for their school. I leave Sacramento around 5 am. I am set up and ready to push play by 8 am. The neighbors always call the police to complain about the noise. Fortunately for us, we have the police department and the city mayor at our event, so the neighbors can call all they want. I have now done this event for 6 years. I look forward to this annual day at Evergreen.

JUNE 24, 2006

RENEE & PHIL WEDDING, SANTA ROSA HILLS.

The location for this wedding was amazing. The bride's uncle owns a petroleum company, and his residence reflects his income. It was a fantastic view. The weather was rather hot. I hired Steve for this event. The bridal party head table was set on the other side of the endless pool. It made for some great pictures. The crowd was great and the event was a whole lot of fun.

APRIL 2006

CHILDREN'S LEUKEMIA UNIT. SUTTER MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.

We had the honor of being asked to volunteer our time to play music for children with Leukemia. The hospital was hosting a party on one of the floors of the hospital. We were surprised to see so many news cameras. It was also fun to interact with the Star Wars characters they had at the event. When I worked at MINI, I met a fellow Motoring Advisor named Crystal. Her sister in law, is the activities coordinator for this particular unit. The finance manager of MINI at the time named Mike, has a son who was also in this unit receiving treatment, so they were there. One of the Star Wars characters is the husband of the woman who previously was in charge of the Niello events. It was interesting to be at an event with so many ties with the Niello Company, yet Niello had nothing to do with this event. I am sorry to say, Mike's son lost his battle with Leukemia at the age of 14.

DECEMBER 31, 2005

OUR LADY OF LOURDES SCHOOL, COLUSA, CA.

This was an event we did for a few years that we enjoyed. It was a New Years Eve fundraising event for a Catholic School in Colusa. I enjoyed the challenge of playing not only appropriate songs, but finding the right selctions for the 'youth challenged' folks that came to this event. The food was always good, and the group was a lot of fun.

OCTOBER 2005

BMW CAR CLUB, NIELLO BMW, SACRAMENTO.

The Niello Company is my favorite group to DJ for. They have good people, and they put on great events. I am pictured here with Summer Wright. She is the Event Coordinator for all the Niello Dealerships. When I worked at MINI, she put together a small group of volunteers to work the phone bank at a local TV station. I am always up for helping out, so in 2004, Summer and I met. We have been doing events together ever since. Talitha and I feel very blessed to know Summer.

JUNE 2005

TODD AND MARCY WEDDING, CARNEROS WINERY, NAPA.

What a memorable event this was. It felt like we were DJing in Cinderella's Castle. This was at Carneros Winery in Napa. The weather was perfect. These two are high school sweethearts, so friends and family pretty much knew each other. That always makes for an exciting celebration. The ceremony was held overlooking the front of the winery and into the Napa Valley. I was told you have to know someone to have your wedding here, it's not open for 'public' weddings. Todd and Marcy are the couple wedding cake topping couples are made from. Truly a beautiful day. Photography by Ken Viale.

JUNE 2005

LDS CHURCH YOUNG MEN, YOUNG WOMEN DANCE, WALNUT CREEK.

A friend was organizing a regional dance in Walnut Creek, so he called us. Youth events are a challenge, but this event went very well. The requests were resonable and I had the music they wanted to hear. It looked to me the crowd had a good time.

MARCH 2004

16TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, PIEDMONT COMMUNITY CENTER, PIEDMONT.

We had done a few weddings at this location and the caterer recommended us for this 16th birthday celebration for one lucky kid. He had a lot of friends who loved to party. This event was a lot of work, but it really was a lot of fun. I love it when parents take this much time to give their kids a great time.

OCTOBER 2003

SWIM-A-MILE FOR THE WOMENS CANCER RESOURCE CENTER IN BERKELEY

While working as a Paramedic, I commuted to San Rafael from West Sacramento. The long 2 hour drive really grew on me as time to reflect and ponder. One Sunday morning, I was around Vallejo. I was listening to a radio interview about a fundraising mile swim event at the swimming pool at Mills College in Oakland. This was for the Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley. I wondered if they had music for the event. I called the radio station, got and got a contact number. I inquired and told them I would do sound for them at no cost. The woman on the other end about jumped through the phone with excitement. So we did the event and had a great time. So many cancer survivors swam the mile and some event swam 3 miles. There were a few with missing limbs from their battle with cancer who were swimming. Events like this really help me keep how wonderful life is in focus.

SEPTEMBER 2002

MARK AND LAUREL WEDDING, THE RIVER HOUSE, NAPA.

This was just Talitha and I. We started set up at 1 pm. The event started around 4. It felt like it was 98 degrees. The bridae had a lot of bare bulbs strung around the area which looked really good. The reception was a French theme, so I played French music. During dinner, I looked to my left and noticed my Psychology teacher from high school. I then saw someone else I recognized from high school. I then looked again at Laurel and realized we went to the same high school, she was one class ahead of me. Kind of neat. I had to run power off the house which was 130 feet away, so the drop in voltage restricted me from using 2 of my lights and my subwoofer. The event ended exactly at 10 pm. In fact, the owner of the property almost turned the music off herself. In Napa, dew sets in at night. All of my equipment was covered in water. The lights were also turned off, and we had to take it all down, pack it up and roll it around the pool on grass. Talitha to this day still feels this was the worst time she has ever had taking gear down. It was freezing cold as well. I did enjoy DJing for a crowd on a black and white dance floor.

SEPTEMBER 2001

KUHL WEDDING, VIANZA WINERY, SONOMA.

This wedding was very early on in my career, but it still stands out as one of the most memorable. The venue had their act together, the bride and groom were a delight, and the crowd of close to 300 was a blast. The entire night was full of laughing and dancing. There was only one mishap. The ceremony was in a lower courtyard, and the reception was up a level on the property. I somehow managed to leave my wireless mic at the house. We unhitched the trailer and Talitha took off to go grab the mic. We made it with time to spare. I also hired my good friend Josh Clark to help with this event due to the two set ups.

JULY 2001

DEER VALLEY APARTMENT COMMUNITY PARTY, SAN RAFAEL, CA.

This will remain one of the more unique events we have ever done. Talitha and I had only been married for 6 months, and we needed to move to Sacramento, since we had just bought our house. We had a few months left on our lease at the apartment complex. We were friends with the manager and we did a trade.. We DJ the pool party and we get out of our lease, full deposit back and we didn't even have to sterilize the place before we left. It was a GREAT deal for both parties involved. The event was actually really fun as well. They planned a lot of games in the pool and had a ton of food. Super glad we did it. I look back at the set up of speakers and equipment and question what I was thinking.

SEPTEMBER 2001

GOLDEN STATE LUMBER PICNIC, STAFFORD LAKE, CA.

This event took place 6 days after the 9/11 attacks, but the show had to go on. The event planner was responsible for making sure everyone at the company could have a good time. The ethnic diversity of the company was rather split, so the planner booked me to DJ for an hour at a time, and across the small field, was a Mexican DJ who would play on alternate hours. It was great! I enjoyed the team effort and the other DJ's were super cool.

1992-2000

DJ IN THE MAKING.

Back in the day, we actually had to play individual CD's. So pre planning of the playlist helped out a lot. I look back at some of the old equipment and set ups and sort of laugh. But hey, we all had to start somewhere.